IATA predicts airline profits "rebirth"

IATA has said it expects that international passenger traffic will increase by between 7% and 8% during 2004. It follows a drop of 2.4% during 2003 due to SARS and the war in Iraq. May saw the sharpest fall with a 19.8% decrease. Unsurprisingly some regions performed far worse than others, with carriers in North America and Asia Pacific worst hit. IATA said results during the last quarter of the year had been encouraging, partly due to cost cutting by the airlines. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO commented: “Altogether, the dynamic traffic growth experienced in the second half of 2003 bids well for a healthy trend in 2004 supporting a rebirth of airline profitability” . The IATA results are in line with recent surveys, including one by the World Tourism Organisation predicting a better year for the travel industry ahead. See last week’s stories WTO “generally optimistic” about 2004 world tourism EXCLUSIVE: Good times ahead for UK industry, says economics expert.